Falcon Hockey Girls Lone Winner in Weekend Round-up

Corrina Cota netted the game winning goal against Northfield with 53 seconds left to play in OT. (Photo Jeff Cota)

Cota Lifts Falcons in OT
NORTHFIELD– Although it would take a almost the entire fifty minutes of regulation and overtime, the North Country girls came away with the 3-2 win over Northfield on Saturday.
"The girls showed their rust early, but they shook it off and played well the rest of the game," said head coach Claude Paul.
Having not had a game in ten days, and limited practice last week due to exams and weather, it is to be expected that the team might be a little slow out of the gate, but it was the Falcons getting out to the early lead in the first.
Whitney Bernier gained control of the puck, circled around the Marauder zone, and then fired the puck top shelf to go up 1-0.
They lead lasted all of thirty seconds as Northfield was quickly able to tie the game up.
The home team went up 2-1 in the second, scoring at 14:04 on rebound.
In the third, with their play steadily improving, the Falcons tied it up when Bernier's rebound was picked up by Ashley Daigle and deposited into the back of the net.
"She was very visible on the ice," said Paul of Daigle's play,"All of our role players, Katie Leblanc and Adrianna Fournier in particular, stepped up and played really well."
With sophomore Crystal Moss out for the season with a broken collar bone, having different faces shine each night will be key for North Country as the season wears on.
In the extra session Corrina Cota would become the final member of the top line to score as she popped the proverbial water bottle with fifty-three seconds remaining to give the Falcons their second OT win of the season.
Now the girls will head to Montpelier today to face U-32 in a make-up game from last month before traveling to Highgate on Wednesday to face the DI Thunderbirds.
SBUHS Tops NC 3-2
SOUTH BURLINGTON–After not seeing any game action for nearly two weeks, the North Country boys hockey team headed out to Carins Arena on Saturday to take on South Burlington. Despite a strong effort from the well rested Falcons, SBUHS was able to come away with the 3-2 win.
North Country got on the board first when Nate Stewart sent the puck out from behind the goal to an open Ryan Paul who found the back of the net to give the boys in maroon a 1-0 lead.
"We are looking for guys to step up and bury some pucks for us, and Ryan did that last night," said coach Andrew Roy on Sunday.
In the second, the Rebels were able to slip two pucks past goalie Chris Bronson to take the lead.
They added another one in the third, but North Country continued to battle. After drawing two South Burlington penalties, Paul notched his second of the game, one-timing a Josh Bernier cross-crease pass to bring the score within one with 3:30 left to play.
After the Rebels had killed off the remainder of their second penalty, it looked like Stewart had tied the game, but the goal was called back because the net had come off of its' mooring allowing South Burlington to hang on and pick up the win.
Bronson had twenty-four saves in the game, and his coach was pleased with his effort.
"Chris had a great game for us," said Roy, "He kept us in there when we needed him to, and he just played tremendous."
It will be a tough week for the Falcons as they hit the road to face 8-1 BFA and 9-0 Essex, but Roy is confident about his teams chances.
"We continue to work hard, and I believe one of these games will go our way."
The Bobwhites are up first on Wednesday, puck drops at 7:00 at the Collins-Perley Sports Complex in St. Albans.
Rangers Fall to Hornets
ENOSBURG – Lake Region traveled to Enosburg Saturday afternoon attempting to end their 7-game skid, but after a valiant effort that saw them leading by 5 midway through the 3rd quarter, the Rangers ultimately fell to the Hornets by a score of 53-43.
After trailing early the Rangers used an 11-1 run to close out the first half, taking the lead at the break 23-22. LR shot 9-12 from the free throw stripe, which aided in the run.
The Hornets would pull ahead by 6 to start the 3rd, before Lake Region came roaring back; leading by much as 5 with 3 minutes to go in the half. But, that is as far as the lead would stretch and Enosburg would dominate the 4th quarter, pulling away for the 10 point win.
Alex Beauregard paced Lake Region with 9, while Darik Messier chipped in with 7 and Drew Gallup added 6.
Will Gleason led the Hornets with 15 points, with Nick Eschelbauch and Brandon Gleason each adding 10.
The loss runs the Rangers losing streak to 8 in a row, dropping them to (1-8) on the season. After playing away from home for over 2 weeks, Lake Region will return to the Don Harter Memorial Gymnasium Friday evening, to face off against the Bullets of BFA-Fairfax. The game will tip-off at 7:00.
Scheduling Note: The North Country boys basketball game against Colchester that was slated for Friday night, has been rescheduled for Friday Feb. 10th. JV @ 5:00 with varsity to follow. There is no word yet on the UCA make-up games against Trinity Baptist.